Reservations... not again!!

Everyone is opposed to reservations based on caste, but i guess no one has a problem if they were based on income. If the only reason for the present state of reservations is vote banks, then why are the vote banks based only on caste?? why not on income? why don't all poor people constitute a vote bank and push for their reservations?? that would have solved the problem forever at one go!!
But that's not going to be the case.. not in our country anywaz. Because, caste is still important, in all important ways in our society. I go to my village.. I see the so called lower castes still live on the outskirts.. they don't eat on the same table.. and so on.

Now you might say this is only seen in villages and not in cities. Well, they constitute just 30% of India and even here the grouping based on religion/caste is so obvious that it'd be foolish to claim caste really doesn't matter.
And whatever solutions proposed seem to be once again based on the assumption that once a lower caste (well there is a hierachial order however much we dont wanna accept) person is financially well equipped, he doesn't need any more help. Which is all very good for big jobs/influential positions. For a small timer, it may not mean much if he doesn't have the necessary connections.. all success in getting a job/setting up a business/upward mobility depends as much on the connections you make as on your school grades. And these connections are usually considerably weak/non existent for lower castes compared to the upper castes.

Well, these are all points to ponder.. and there is no easy solution. And it's all very easy to sit and blame it on politicians who are probably as rational and intelligent as others in the society. They did not come from another galaxy!!!
What needs to be done? change the way the society thinks???
Anywaz, therez no point in increasing the reservation in iits/iims.. as it is the existing quota is hardly filled to the capacity.. and most of them struggle to complete the course.. the problem is with the primary education! and now whoz gonna run schools for poor kids? dont ask them to join govt schools!!

One good solution could be to reserve the seats in all primary and secondary schools- both private and public. Make it mandatory in all private schools too. This would probably lead to higher fees in general for richer sections. This would inevitably lead to increase in the number of good schools and mixing of populations in general. The Govt. could bear the costs of schooling for the next 20 years or so which I don't think is a problem considering the billions they pour into the defense deals.